Dear Mark,
I have noticed that you recommend the quick, hit-and-run
method of gambling, unless of course, you are on
the winning streak from heaven. Wouldn't waiting
for the win streak to occur be a better way to play?
Gerald H.
How
would you know when it started, Gerald? The reason I
highly recommend hit-and-run gambling is that short-term
play is the breeding ground for unusual fluctuations,
where-briefly-results seem to defy the dictates of probability.
The casino's built-in advantage may not tick over during
brief stints. It is to your advantage to make your gambling
timeline as short as possible, and here's why: the casino's
advantage is quite real, but it's predicated on the
operation of the
"law of averages"
over a long period. (In Old World casinos, it's
even called the "law of large numbers"
-not a bad name considering that thousands of players
bet on millions of hands, year-in, year-out.)
By exposing your money for an extended period, you
veer unavoidably closer to the ultimate built-in
loss that the casino's statistician has prepared
for you. Brevity of gambling session is, for that
reason, a handy secret weapon for you. It's not
guaranteed to make you win; but a long session is
guaranteed to make you lose.
The casino edge for slot machines, and for that
matter for all casino games, is based on long-term
trials. Casinos, open 24 hours a day, greet with
a big smile those millions of hands of blackjack
and handle pulls. With thousands of hopefuls playing
slots, craps, roulette, and blackjack at any given
moment, and with a mathematical advantage to the
casino in every one of them, the casino can't lose,
but players who lengthen their bankroll's exposure
give the casino a correspondingly greater opportunity
to eat it.
Bottom line: Your best chance to win comes when
you shorten your playing time, exploiting any favorable
deviations from the law of big numbers that may
occur. Of course, when you've won the entire casino,
then you opt for all-night gambling sessions. Until
then, master the hit-and-run method of gambling.
